Undergarment



June 1, 1943. E c, LARK 2,320,408

UNDERGARMENT Filed Dec. 23, 1940 BY 25 g; 4

A ORNEY Patented J une 1 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE UNDERGABMENT Elizabeth C. Clark, New York, N. Y., assignor to Belflt Foundations Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 23, 1940, Serial No. 371,309

Claims. (01. 2-225) This invention relates to undergarments and more particularly to that type of ladies formshaping and constricting garment known as a pantie girdle.

Two types of garments-the girdle and the pantie girdle-are presently used for controlling the contour of the hips, buttocks and abdomen. Of these, the girdle is the more widely used, mainly since, due to the absence of an integral crotch portion, it does not have to be laundered daily. However, it is customary when wearing a girdle to additionally employ an expedient such as an extra garment or a removable crotch element to take the place of the missing crotch piece. Use of the additional garment is not favored as it results in added bulk and causes the presence of ridges around the hips which can be seen through the dress. Moreover, if a removable crotch element, common called a fig leaf is attached to the girdle, the resultant garment is extremely uncomfortable since the girdle rides upwardly during wear causing said element to press and cut into the crotch and chafe the tender inner surfaces of the thighs.

The pantie girdle, on the other hand, is not subject to the several disadvantages caused by employment of an additional garment or a fig leaf, since its integral crotch portion anchors it firmly to the body and it is only because of the requirement for daily laundering, due to soiling of the crotch portion, that this garment is not more extensively used.

It is an object of my invention, therefore, to provide a pantie girdle which is so constructed and arranged that the garment need not be laundered daily and whose crotch portion can yet be maintained scrupulously clean.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pantie girdle which includes a detachable crotch lining portion which presents a smooth surface to the body of the wearer and which will follow the altered contour assumed by the wearer in various positions.

A further object of my invention is to provide a pantie girdle which although it molds the body to any desired form will allow relatively unrestricted movement of the wearer.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a pantie girdle of the character described which shall comprise relatively few and simple parts, shall be economical to manufacture, and highly eflicient for the purposes set forth.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplifled in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the claims,

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a front view of a pantie girdle embodying my invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are bottom and top views respectively thereof;

Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views taken along the lines 44 and 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a top view of a removable crotch lining member partially attached to the garment;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the detachable fastener elements employed in my garment; and I Fig. 8 is a phantom perspective view explanatory of the contour the removable crotch member lining assumes during wear.

Referring now to the drawing, the pantie girdle l0 comprises a front portion which consists of left and right panel members H and I2 fabricated from one-way stretch material, which is so disposed that the panel members are resilient in a substantially horizontal direction along the lines I3 indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The front section is completed by two elastic lace panels l4 and [5 which may also be stretchable only transversely. The lace panels l4 and I5 extend around to the rear of the garment where they are connected by a pair of one-way stretch panels l6 and I1 substantially similar in construction and arrangement to the front panels II and I2. To provide a finished looking appearance to the garment, the adjoining edges of all the panels ll, I2, l4, l5, l6 and I! are provided with a hem l8 and interconnected by a line of fancy stitching 19. A reinforcing inelastic tape 20 is transversely disposed under the crotch between the front and back panels ll, l2 and l6, 11.

It will be noted that due to the cut of the panels ll, l2, l6 and I! (see Fig. 2) in the area of the seat 2| of the garment, the resiliency has an appreciable component in front-to-back direction so that when the wearer changes her position, as from standing to sitting, at which time the contour of the body in this region is enlarged, the garment will stretch in its seat portion to allow free movement of the body while still maintaining control thereof.

The removable crotch lining member 22 has an elongated contour having end portions of lesser width than its central portion and may assume the shape of an ellipse having pointed ends, as shown in Fig. 6. It may be mentioned that by ,use of this configuration I have eliminated the formation of wrinkles or creases in the member 22 which run in a front-to-back direction and which would chafe the soft parts of the thigh. Said crotch member may comprise an upper layer 23 and lower layer 24 of soft, similarly configured material, such as rayon, whose maximum girth at their central portions is slightly less than the underlying width of the pantie girdle at its crotch section (Fig. 4) so that the ends of the removable crotch member are not visible from the outside of the garment. To detachably secure the crotch lining member 22 to the pantie girdle: I 0, I provide a plurality of snap fasteners 25 comprising male and female elements 26 and 21 suitably stitched to the girdle and lining in a manner well known in the art, so as to be substantially concealed (Fig. 7).

Referring to Fig, 6, it will be seen that the longitudinal ends 28 and 29 of the lining member 22 are provided with male fastener elements 26 which are spaced apart a distance substantially greater than the space between the mating longitudinal fastener elements 21 secured to the pantie girdle ill in the seat region 2|. Also, the male fastener elements 26 transversely disposed at approximately the central portion of the lining member 22 are spaced apart slightly less than the spacing between the corresponding mating female fastener elements 21 sewed to the pantie girdle II].

By this construction, when the detachable crotch lining member 22 is snapped on to the pantie girdle and positioned on the wearer, said crotch member will be tensioned between the two transverse snap fastener elements associated with the pantie girdle to define the transverse stretched area 30 intermediate the longitudinal ends 28 and 29 over which any excess material in the length of the crotch member will normally fold. Such excess material is provided by, spacing the longitudinally disposed snap fastener elements on the crotch lining member a greater distance apart than the mating longitudinally disposed snap fastener elements on the pantie girdle as above described. This additional material along the longitudinal axis of the member 22 will arrange itself in oppositely disposed folds 3| and 32 partially overlying the stretched area 30.

It will be noted that by providing such stretched area any folds which may be made in the crotch lining member will be localized in the region of this area and cannot therefore be present in the front and back portions of the crotch member. Also, when the wearer of my improved pantie girdle alters her position, as from standing to sitting, and the pantie girdle stretches in the region of the seat 2|, the de tachable crotch member will expand by bellows action of the folds 3| and 32 to follow the shape of the wearer, and upon assumption of standing position the fold will be reformed by the stretched area 30 in the central portion of the crotch member lining. v

The crotch lining member 22 may be removed every evening and laundered without laundering the entire pantie girdle to thus daily provide a clean piece of material in the crotch portion.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various, possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense,

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A form shaping and constricting pantie girdle which is resilient in a front-to-back direction through the crotch, a soft, flat, elongated crotch lining member, spaced means to detachably attach both ends of said elongated crotch lining member to said pantie girdle so that said member will overlie the crotch thereof, said crotch lining member being so constructed and arranged that it will expand between said pair of attachable and detachable means when the crotch of said pantie girdle is stretched.

2. Aform shaping and constricting girdle which is resilient in a front-to-back direction through the crotch, a soft, fiat, elongated crotch lining member, spaced means to detachably attach both ends of said elongated crotch lining member to said pantie girdle so that said member will overlie the crotch thereof, said member being longer than the distance between said pair of detachable attaching means when the crotch of said pantie girdle is not stretched whereby said member will expand between said pair of detachable attaching means when said crotch is stretched.

3. A form shaping and constricting pantie girdle which is resilient in a front-to-back direction through the crotch, a soft, flat, elongated crotch lining member, spaced means to detachably attach both ends of said elongated crotch lining member to said pantie girdle so that said member will overlie the crotch thereof, said member being longer than the distance between said pair of detachable attaching means when the crotch of said pantie girdle is not stretched, and means to form all the material which makes said member overlong into a pair of deep opposed folds facing one another at the center of said member, transversely of the longitudinal axis thereof, and parallel to said member, whereby said member will expand between said pair of detachable attaching means when said crotch is stretched.

4. A form shaping and constricting pantie girdle which is resilient in a front-to-ba'ck direction through the crotch, an elongated, limp, crotch lining member of fiat material so disposed in said pantie girdle that the longitudinal axis of said member runs in a front-to-back direction over said crotch, detachable fastener elements attached to the longitudinal ends of said lining member, cooperating longitudinally disposed detachable fastener elements attached to the crotch portion of said pantie girdle, the spacing between the fastener elements on said lining member being greater than the spacing between the fastener elements on said pantie girdle, whereby additional material is provided along the length of said lining member intermediate said detachable fastener elements to permit stretching of said member in a front-to-back direction, and means to form said additional material into a pair of oppositely facing transverse folds adjacent the center of said member.

5. A form shaping and constricting pantie girdle which is resilient in a front-to-back direction through the crotch, an elongated limp crotch lining member of flat material so disposed in said pantie girdle that the longitudinal axis of said member runs in a front-to-back direction over said crotch, detachable fastener elements attached to the longitudinal ends of said lining member, cooperating detachable fastener elements attached to the crotch portion of said pantie girdle, the spacing between the fastener elements on said fining member being greater than the spacing between the fastener elements on said pantie girdle, whereby additional material is provided along the length of said lining member intermediate said detachable fastener elements, detachable fastener elements on opposite transverse edges of said lining member, and co-,

operating transversely disposed detachable fastener elements on said crotch portion, the spacing between the transverse fastener elements on said lining being less than the spacing between the transverse fastener elements on said crotch portion, whereby to centrally transversely tauten said member and normally form said additional material into a pair of oppositely facing folds on both sides of a line Joining said transversely disposed fastener elements on said lining to permit elongation of said member and stretching of said crotch portion in a front-to-back direction.

ELIZABETH C. CLARK. 

